Trump makes stunning announcement concerning Apple and Intel
Trump says Apple and Intel agreed to team up to design and build chips in the US.
Trump says Apple and Intel have agreed to team up on US-produced chips | Image by PhoneArena
Ever since his first term, President Donald Trump has been trying to get Apple to manufacture the iPhone in the United States. In July 2017, Trump said that Apple CEO Tim Cook told him that Apple was building "three big plants, beautiful plants" in the U.S. The factories never surfaced, and Apple denied that it ever brought this up to the President.
Trump announced today that Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its chips in the U.S.
In his second term, Trump has kept alive the idea of a domestically produced iPhone even though Dan Ives, a top Wall Street analyst, said last year that an iPhone made solely in the States could cost $3,500. Apple has been moving production out of China, and the company now makes 25% of its handsets in India; a majority of the iPhones made in India are shipped to the U.S.
In a Truth Social post written today, President Trump made a big announcement. He wrote, "Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America." There have been rumors that Apple plans on using its long-time foundry, TSMC, and Intel to manufacture chips for its products.
Trump's post does not mention what kind of chips the companies have discussed producing in the U.S., and it also did not state when the first chips from this partnership will be ready to be deployed in Apple devices. Neither Apple nor Intel has confirmed Trump's comments.
Apple has been concerned about a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan
As far as the iPhone is concerned, Apple has exclusively used Taiwan-based TSMC to build its A-series iPhone application processors since 2016 with the A10 Fusion for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Apple has been concerned about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan and how that could put a serious crimp in the flow of chips to Apple for the iPhone and other products.
Which Foundry should Apple use to make the majority of its chips?
Yes, TSMC does have the fabs it built and continues to build in the U.S. However, it is a few generations behind the advanced production done in Taiwan. TSMC is currently mass producing 2nm chips in its home country. It plans to start trial production of 1.4nm (A14) chips next year with mass-production penciled in for 2028.
In the U.S., Fab 21 in Arizona is turning out 4nm and 5nm. Volume production of 3nm chips should start next year with 2nm and 1.6nm (A16) development happening later this decade. For Apple to obtain cutting-edge silicon for the iPhone and reduce worrying about China and Taiwan, it really had two options: Samsung Foundry (which is now basking in the success of the Exynos 2600 AP) and Intel.
Apple has used Intel processors on Macs and Intel modems on older iPhone models
While the first three iPhone models (the original model, the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS) used Samsung SoCs, the first three Apple-designed A-series processors were built by Samsung Foundry. The A9 was dual-sourced by Samsung Foundry and TSMC.
President Trump posts that Apple and Intel have agreed to design and build chips in the U.S.| Image by Truth Social
Apple has also worked with Intel as it provided processors for Macs from 2006 to 2023. The company might never have built the A-series processor for the iPhone, but it did provide the modem, along with Qualcomm, used for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X. The iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR used the Intel XMM7560 modem exclusively, and the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max were equipped with the Intel XMM7660 modem exclusively.
The President's social media post drove Intel shares to a new 52-week high
Starting with the iPhone 12 line, Apple returned to Qualcomm to supply it with modems for the iPhone. But all along, Apple had been planning to design its own modem for the iPhone. Toward that end, Apple purchased Intel's smartphone modem business in 2019 for $1 billion. In 2025, Apple debuted its own C1 modem on the iPhone 16e lower-priced model. The updated Apple C1X modem can be found in the iPhone Air and iPhone 17e, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon X80 modem powers the regular iPhone 17 series models.
President Trump's post about Intel and Apple led to a 10.64% jump in Intel's shares on Thursday. The stock jumped $12.89 to close at $133.99 after setting a new 52-week high at $135.08 earlier in the day.
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